Department
Economics, Finance and Quantitative Analysis
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-1991
Abstract
This paper formalizes and empirically tests the hypothesis that the deficient maintenance of public infrastructure is caused by fiscal distress. We utilize a production-decision framework in which public officials combine maintenance and new capital to produce a desired level of capital services. The behavior implied in the fiscal distress hypothesis is treated as perverse deviations from the optimal production path. The empirical findings from cross-sectional expenditures data give support to the fiscal distress hypothesis.
Journal Title
Review Of Economic s & Statistics
Journal ISSN
1530-9142
Volume
73
Issue
1
First Page
33
Last Page
39
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.2307/2109684
Included in
Infrastructure Commons, Public Administration Commons, Public Economics Commons, Statistics and Probability Commons